The Associate Justice in Chamber, Yussif D. Kaba, has given the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) a seven-day ultimatum to resolve the recent election dispute in-house or he will rule in accordance with the law.
On Wednesday, November 23, 2022, supporters of Julius Kanubah (the defeated and aggrieved candidate) in the November 18, 2022 PUL election in Gbarnga, and Daniel Nyankonah (the elected candidate) stormed the Temple of Justice awaiting the result from a citation of a conference from the Justice in Chamber, Yussif D. Kaba.
Kanubah’s campaign team had filed a complaint against 1st Respondent, Judge J. Boima Kontoe, Resident Circuit Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Bong County and 2nd Respondent, the Administration of the PUL, headed by Atty. Ade Wede Kerkulah, Fabin Kwiah, Eddie Harmon, Cllr. Bobby Livingstone, Atty. Al-Varney Rogers, Charles B. Coffey Jr., Musa M.B. Kanneh, Daniel Nyankonah, Caroline Myers Zordua et.al.
The petitioners’ complaint contended that the Justice in Chamber should reverse and set aside the Judge Kontoe’s order vacating the stay order restraining the PUL administration from holding any election without a hearing of the petition for preliminary injunction.
It also requested that the Justice in Chamber cancels the result of the “unconstitutional” election they held in Gbarnga as if it never took place.
However, after the conference with the Justice-in-chamber, a short press briefing was held in the office of the Judicial Reporters Association of Liberia (AJUL), Temple of Justice, by the current President of the PUL, Charles B. Coffey Jr.
Cuffey told reporters that the Justice in Chamber has given them a responsibility to resolve the issue in-house within seven days. He used the occasion to shortly call on all parties and the elders of the PUL to look into the suggestion from the Justice in Chamber, a decision they are looking up to from both parties to uphold.